Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 17.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

The campaign of 1862

Jackson's immortal ‘Valley Campaign’; the ‘Seven Days’ wrestle of giants, by which Richmond was relieved of the presence of a great investing army, to which her spires had for weeks been visible; the second and greater victory at Manassas, which rolled the tide of invasion back across the border; the Confederate invasion of Maryland; the capture of Harper's Ferry; the great battle of Sharpsburg, where thirty-five thousand Confederates divided the honors with eighty-seven thousand Federals; Fredericksburg, from whose encircling hills the gallant and mighty Army of the Potomac reeled [101] bleeding back across the Rappahannock. These mark the salient points of the campaign in Virginia, and challenge the annals of war for a parallel. But in another and distant field, the great Confederate paladin of the West had fallen in sight of victory at Shiloh. The death of Albert Sidney Johnston was an irreparable loss to his army and to the Confederacy. Earth never bore a nobler son or heaven opened wide its gates to receive a knightlier spirit.